Ooze Architects was first hired to design a new kitchen, but the architects’ scope of work quickly evolved into a complete renovation and extension – even though the house had been extended several times in the past few decades. Their design was based on the maximum building envelope: ridge height, as well as the depth of the extension was defined by the zoning plan. “We simply connected these points,” architect Eva Pfannes said of the project.

The new iteration consists of two perpendicular building volumes with a pitched roof, a lower semicircle building in between connecting the two parts, and several extensions on the other side in the angle of the hook-shaped house. The pre-defined maximum envelope guided the form of the new skin, which wraps around the old house and shapes the interior spaces, including a new kitchen and an increase the number of bedrooms. The layout has been totally reorganized around a central void, and a new staircase on the north wall provides a connection to the first and second floor.

To achieve their precise form and a speedy delivery, Ooze used prefabricated solid timber panels (Lenotec) for the structure of the skin (roof, walls and floor). The home essentially arrived to the site as a simple prefabricated kit. The choice material also allowed the outer walls and roof to remain relatively thin, and by varying the thickness of the single material, it could serve as outer wall, roof, interior wall, stair balustrade and stringer. The result is a succession of spaces where the difference between ceiling, wall and floor are gone and thus overlap.

Moreover, by using sedum green roofs and black stained ACCOYA (high-technology fast growing, sustainably-sourced wood more durable than teak) planks in a standard width of 15cm, the exterior is able to embody the traditional aesthetic commonplace to Dutch farms while being wholly environmentally conscious.